Cohen Readying for Olympics?

Interesting. I wonder how realistic that is, and how much is just PR work. So, she is staying on with SOI, as a headliner? It will be interesting if those who skate at her rink are able to share if she's getting her triples back.

The two new items in this article are: no 2009 Worlds for Sasha and she will be touring again next season with SOI. I think the "summer training" Sasha mentions in this article will be for her to get ready for her upcoming season with SOI and not 2010. JMO

"she said she hoped to return and compete at the 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in her hometown of Los Angeles. That appears out, as Cohen will again tour the U.S. with Stars on Ice, but as the saying goes, 'I'm still keeping my options open.'"

This whole spill from Cohen and the media is really the broken record of the past 2 seasons and tells me she is not serious about a competitive comeback. To be realistic, without competing in the 2008-2009 season and at the 2009 Worlds, she may as well prepare herself not to make the Olympic team if she does attempt a comeback. I really think she is deluded if she expects to come in only for the Olympic season and pose herself as a threat to the world when her last ISU competition was 2006 Worlds, where her performance was very lackluster. She has to build herself and her reputation up again and only doing so during the Olympic season is not going to give her the time and renewed competitive drive she is going to need to make any kind of successful comeback.

While I have no doubt that such a prospect is "possible" - It's hard to avoid thinking a bit cynically about the "timing" of this release. As a "competitor" one would think there would be an advantage to not "signalling" ones plans so early in the season. With Liberty going on this week, such an announcement has the potential to put her name back in the "buzz" and on the lips of the chattering US skating community as the season "kicks off"... plus... with the Summer games just around the corner, and the media loving the whole Dara Torres come-back story (a genuine story line IMO), one could construe a bit of coat-tail riding there as well.....

That said, I would LOVE to see it happen. Bring it on! Show what it is that experience, maturity and the intangible benefits of performing for audiences can do when brought back to the CoP take no prisoners, win/lose by hundredths of a point (not ordinal placements) can do. So here's to hoping it happens...

Don't we hear this every few months or so? It's a broken record, and I have no real expectations.
Yes she could train to come back, but that doesn't guarantee her a spot on the Olympic team; it's a bit presumptuous of her (that is how I'm seeing it). With Flatt, Zhang, Nagasu, Meissner, Wagner...the list goes on. She'd be hard pressed to get a spot.

"I would really love to come back to one more Olympics," she adds. "The whole magnitude of it is amazing. I love the sense of purpose and challenge.

Forgive me, but wasn't she the one who in 2006 said it was time for Michelle Kwan to move on, that she'd had her chance? I realize it was a bit different (given that Kwan petitioned for a spot) but still. I think that applies here too.
If Sasha is enjoying herself with SOI, I think that's where she should be.

Here is what I said in response to this article on SF (it should apply here, too):

Looks like she's realizing it would be better to stick to where her talent lies: skating.

This so-called "really tough training" could just mean stepping it up a notch. It absolutely does not mean she's training at the same level of intensity as today's competitors. She said herself that she didn't train much last summer, so seems like she just wants to be in better shape for this tour. And judging by reviews of last year's tour, it's definitely something she needs to do.

This means her fans can still see her in shows and on tour on SOI, which is a good thing. She's not going to stop skating for the near future.

The two new items in this article are: no 2009 Worlds for Sasha and she will be touring again next season with SOI. I think the "summer training" Sasha mentions in this article will be for her to get ready for her upcoming season with SOI and not 2010.

That's how I read it as well. I don't think there's any false advertising going on as far as the likelihood of her actually competing at the 2010 Olympics. I think before even considering a 2010 comeback, she's just going to get serious about the skating again and see (a) whether her body can still handle a competitive training regimen and (b) whether the triple jumps come back. That doesn't require that she firmly close the door to the possibility, if things go better than expected.

She never explicitly says she is training for the Olympics. All she is says is that she is 1. training and 2. would love to be able to go to another Olympics, not that she is training for the Olympics. Her training could just be to get in shape to do well in her SOI and other performances, and who wouldn't love to be able to compete in the Olympics? She never said matter-of-fact that she was going to.